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Overview

'Ugly' OK for USA

They roared through the group stages with style and grace,
bagging a tournament-high nine goals, besting Brazil and routing
Poland. Freddy Adu was in sparkling form and living up to his
much-lauded potential and life was all right for the USA. But storm
clouds gathered ahead of a Round of 16 clash in Toronto on
Wednesday that was always going to be more about guts and endeavour
than style and wit.

According to head coach Thomas Rongen, the 2-1 come-from-behind
extra time win against Uruguay was a matter of "playing with
big balls". Michael Bradley - son of US senior boss Bob -
scored the winner two minutes into the second period of extra time
(the win was the US's first in extra time at any FIFA finals)
and knows the contest, which ended with frayed tempers and
fisticuffs at the final whistle, was about heart, determination and
teeth gnashing.

"Everybody all over the field got involved, winning
battles. Freddy (Adu), and the wingers too - guys who like to go
forward and create - all did their part," said Bradley whose
star is rising with Dutch side Heerenveen. "It wasn't the
easiest day at the office, but we all fought hard for the team, did
all the little things and never stopped running."

Battling middle menGoal aside, Bradley's contributions in the holding
midfield role, combined with those of grafter extraordinaire Danny
Szetela, helped see the Americans past a difficult Uruguay side
when Freddy Adu looked out of ideas and out of his depth early on.
"Americans teams have heart, American players have
heart," Szetela, the side's ball winner and unlikely
three-goal scorer in the group stages, told
FIFA.com. "You need to play with guts
sometimes and find a way to win that isn't pretty. They
(Uruguay) didn't back us off we weren't going to be
intimidated."

Bradley picked up right where his brother in arms left off, and
a wry smile spread across his face when he talked about the
difficult victory. "The teams that only play pretty, attacking
football usually don't end up winning championships - it
doesn't always work out," said Bradley, who was sent off
in the senior USA's Gold Cup semi-final against Canada before
arriving in the Great White North. "You need to have the guts
and strength to fight out a win that maybe you don't deserve.
Playing attacking football all the time doesn't get you where
you need to be sometimes."

Adu too, who engaged in the contest more in the second half and
went on to set up the winner, sees the team's spirit as the
hallmark of a champion. "A championship team needs to win
games like that, grinding it out against the odds." he told
FIFA.com.

'Jozy' sidelinedJosmer Altidore bore the burden of the rough-and-tumble
contest harder than anyone, being carried off the pitch after
absorbing a painful calf injury. Limping out of the stadium with
his mates, he was all smiles. "We deserve some credit,"
he said. "We are a bunch of hard men," he half-laughed.
The hard man who replaced him and played a crucial role in the
creation of the own-goal equaliser with only three minutes to go in
regular time, Andre Akpan of Harvard University, was in full
agreement.

"You can't play at your best, entertaining style in
every game," the brainy super-sub told
FIFA.com. "There are going to be games where
you just have to grind it out and get the goals no matter how ugly
they are."

Ugly or pretty, every player in the US camp and their gritty
boss Rongen will take a win as it comes. One more victory against
Austria in Toronto on Saturday and they will find themselves
equalling their best-ever finish when, led by Kasey Keller nearly
20 years ago, the USA reached the semi-final of Saudi Arabia
1989.